Past Journey
by Inufox
Summary: Ranma has finally removed his girl side, now she's her own person and stuck in the past with no memory. Worse, Ryoga's there too! So what's a girl who only knows how to be a boy, supossed to do in a world not her own?
1. Goodbye girlside

The town was silent and still, only a lone dog barking in the distance broke the peace. The Chinese salesmen took the chance to take the heavy pack from his back and sat down to rest, unaware of the changes he would cause to someone's life in the near future.

**XXXXXXX**

"Is sure, medicine will work." The Chinese teen shoved to powder packet at her target again as she assured him in complete confidence.

"You sure Shampoo?" The cursed boy asked skeptically, eyeing the brown package.

"Couldn't hurt to try, could it?" The dark-haired girl beside him commented tiredly. The three were standing in the middle of an empty street, the latter two having been on their way home from school before being ambushed by the first.

"Your right," The teenage martial artist offered up a hand for the package to the beaming Amazon. "Give it here, Shampoo. How does it work anyway?" He examined the package's label curiously.

"Find out later Ranma, we're gonna be late for dinner!" Akane started back to their home without looking to see whether the cursed boy was following.

"G'bye Shampoo!" Ranma jumped onto the fence beside the street and took off after his fiancée. '_Maybe this really will get rid of my curse' _were his final thoughts before they turned, without fail, to the delicious food waiting for him.

**XXXXXXX**

"So you are really gonna try it?" Akane sat on one side of the dojo watching Ranma prepare to use the "cure".

"Carefully pour in powder and light-," Ranma was mumbling under his breath while he followed the directions, but paused to call, "A 'course I'm gonna try it, it might actually _work_," distractedly. "Light, then breathe resulting smoke, a sure-fire way to get rid of any female curse." He continued reading in a monotone.

Finally everything was prepared; Ranma had moved well away from Akane so that she would not get any of it and just as a thick greenish smoke started curling up from the incense-burner, the door to the dojo flew open. A familiar bandana-clad boy stood in the entrance.

"How dare you be in the same room as Akane alone, DIE RANMA!!! " He ran across the room, index finger held out on one hand, preparing to use his breaking-point technique on his long-time rival.

"Ryoga, I wouldn't go ov-"Akane's warning words fell on deaf ears, the boy ran straight into the growing cloud of green smoke that was thick enough to shield Ranma completely from view. As he disappeared from view inside the cloud a blinding white flash erupted from the middle, Akane was forced to close her eyes and shield her face from the wind.

When all cleared, only one figure lay in the small crater where two should have been, Akane went to tend to her fiancée wondering where in the world the Ryoga could be…

**XXXXXXX**

'_Damn… my head hurts.' _The person tried once to sit up and had to lay back down when the world span around them. The second time went much better and they managed to get to a semi-upward position.

'_Now first-things-first, where am I' _They looked around once before a more important thought occurred to them.

'_Better yet… __**who **__am I?' _ A quick once-over proved them to be a girl with red hair pulled back into a short braid.

Her clothes were dirtied and slightly wrinkled from lying down, the top was a short-sleeved blouse-like red shirt that was white on the inside including a black belt around her waist, the pants were navy blue and both pieces seemed to be three or four sizes too big.

When she'd found out all she could about herself, the girl turned back to her first question. She was surrounded with large moss-covered trees. The grass was over-grown, coming up to mid-calf, which had helped conceal the other inhabitant of the small forest from her.

He was a boy about her age. A yellow and black checkered bandana held the hair back from his face and his clothes were that of a traveler. This theory was proven when she spotted the large pack thrown to the side carelessly near him.

'_Maybe he can tell me who I am…'_ She knew she had a name, just couldn't remember what it was or where she came from. She stood from where she'd been crouching next to the guy and toed him lightly with her foot.

"Hey guy, get up." She asked/stated, he didn't respond so she went back to kneeling and shook his arm. "Wake up!" she said it a little louder this time; the boy mumbled and shifted a little. Tired with the gentle approach, the red-head came up with a fool-proof plan to bring him to consciousness, then whapped him on the head, **hard. **

That seemed to get through to him, the boy snapped upright, knocking his already bruised noggin on the girl's forehead. Both fell back down clutching their abused craniums, cursing loudly in unision.

"What the-, who di-…" The boy's confused stuttering ended and his face clouded with anger when he caught sight of the person sitting next to him, he was on his feet and pulling back his fist instantly. Going on instinct, the pigtailed girl pushed herself off the ground and landed on one hand before flipping up into a nearby tree-branch, in time to see the ground where she had been, disintegrate into a small crater under the boys attack.

"Hey! What're you tryin' to do!?" The girl dodged another one of his attacks when he jumped at her, causing the tree to end up much like the, previously flat, ground.

"I'm going to defeat you for all you made me go through Ranma!" He continued attacking non-stop as he said this and left no opening for the red-head to launch her own assault.

"I dunno who you're talking about! I've never even **heard**-" She started to yell before it occurred to her, taking advantage of his momentary confusion at her words, the pigtailed girl pushed off of her newest tree and kicked to boy as hard as she could in the chest, using both feet. Instead of then jumping back, she sat on him and tried to pin him down as best as she could.

The boy looked surprised when her face appeared right above his. "Do you know who I am?"

"Is this a joke?" His face still showed anger but it had diminished from before. "Cause' it isn't funny."

"Why would I joke about that, stupid?" She scoffed.

"You're Ranma Soatome." It took her a moment before she realized he was answering her questions. The newly dubbed Ranma then inched off of the boy, both were still watching each other warily.

"Okay then… What's your name? And why are you so mad at me?" The boy sat up and, stretching, looked around at his surroundings, taking his time before answering.

"Ryoga Hibiki, you did something really bad to me awhile ago." He said finally.

'_What could I have done?'_ Ranma wondered briefly but decided it was more than likely he would tell her later. Instead she thought of a different, if non-important question.

"Isn't Ranma a boy name?"

Ryoga looked at her in a funny way then, he got up and walked over to his pack. "You don't even remember that much? It'd probly be better to show you on that one." Slinging it across his back Ryoga began adjusting the straps to make sure nothing would fall off.

Ranma stood and went over to him. "How would you "show" me why I have a boy's name? How do I know you're not just lying about all of this?"

Ryoga just shrugged and didn't look up from his pack.

"The first is complicated and you probly wouldn't believe the answer. As for the second, that's just up to you I guess." He finished then and set off in a random direction without one look back at her.

Ranma watched him for a second, then with a shrug and a small half-smile, jogged to catch up.

"Hey Ryoga, where the heck are we?"


	2. Demon

_It's weird how our minds freeze sometimes._

After the third time they passed the debris-littered clearing where they started, Ranma came to the conclusion that, not only were they completely and utterly lost, but Ryoga had the worst directional sense in the universe.

Instead of getting frustrated, though, the redhead found this fact hilarious and pointed it out often, coupled with uncontrollable giggles.

"Oooo, lookit', there it goes." She said trying to keep a straight face as they went through the clearing once again. Ryoga ignored her and plodded along with an annoyed look on his face. Ranma decided to spare him further humiliation and quickened her pace to be slightly ahead, inconspicuously taking the lead.

"Why did you stop attacking me?" The redhead asked to distract him from her new position. He didn't need to think on the answer much.

"You don't even know what you did right now, takes all the satisfaction out of it." Ryoga gave her a fanged grin when she turned back to look at him and she smiled wearily in return.

"Well I'm glad you figured that, if you didn't I might've been lost _and_ alone." Ryoga didn't answer to this and Ranma saw him looking off in the distance when she looked back. They walked in silence after that until finally coming to a small stream when the sun had just sunk low enough to paint the sky in sunset colors.

The stream wasn't very fast and made a soothing bubbling voice as it flowed on its way. The grass around it flourished with the constant water supply. They both decided that this would be a perfect place to spend the night.

Ryoga began gathering firewood close by on the edge of the woods after setting down his backpack and soon had a large pile. Ranma on the other-hand didn't have his work-ethic and settled down on a tree branch to keep watch, falling into a light sleep soon after.

When she woke back up completely, it was passed nightfall and Ryoga had a good-sized fire going, with a kettle and three instant noodle packets sitting next to it. Ryoga didn't look very happy when she jumped down to land across from him and proceeded to lecture her on how-rude-it-was-to-take-a-nap-while-there's-work-to-be-done, before settling down with a huff.

Ranma, still half asleep, lazily flapped her hand in his direction and muttered something unidentifiable back at him. Ryoga got an annoyed expression on his face from her apparent indifference to her wrongdoings and without thinking first emptied the boiling hot water on her head.

That finally woke her up and the red-head acquired a shocked and angry look on her face while the noodles dripped all over her comically. Ranma pieced together that Ryoga was the cause of her pain and took a swing at him, but was surprised when he didn't even move to dodge. The boy received a sound whack to the head but didn't even change his expression of mixed shock and confusion.

"What… how… why are you still…?" Ryoga began babbling still looking at Ranma like he'd seen a ghost.

"Um, you okay Ryoga? You're lookin' at me funny." Ranma put down her fist and scooted away from the, apparently crazy, lost boy.

"You didn't change back." was his only reply.

"Change back to what?" The red-head was beginning to get annoying at his rambling, and was nervous to find out what was bothering Ryoga so much.

"A guy, you didn't go back to your male-form." The shock was beginning to wear off fast and Ryoga had a thoughtful face on now. "But how?" he was zoning now. Ranma had just decided to leave him be when a faint crashing that had started in the middle of this caught her attention with its raising volume of the noise.

"Uh, Ryoga somth-"

Her warning came too late. In the middle of it a gigantic centipede-like demon broke through the trees and let out a deafening roar. Its pincers and tiny legs wiggled grotesquely as it set its sights on the nearest target, Ryoga.

"Move you stupid idiot!!" Ranma dived and knocked Ryoga out of the stupor he'd been in ever since sighting the ugly bug. Just as she'd predicted the monster's face crashed into the rock where Ryoga had been standing seconds earlier, shattering rock with the force.

Ryoga seemed to wake up then, and shook his head as if to clear it.

The bug righted itself and let out a pained roar, but recovered quickly and once again set its sights onto them. Ranma, before it could charge again, ran forward and kicked it as hard as she could in the head, trying for the same spot it hit the rock with. Alost instantly Ryoga was there with his fist out, slamming the weak point as hard as he could.

They both jumped back when the centipede moved to try to snap them up in its razor sharp pincers and had to cover their ears when it let out a blood-freezing screech. Their attacks didn't seem to be doing enough damage to end the fight quickly and Ranma saw Ryoga pull a few more bandanas from the one he wore, that seemed to harden before her eyes.

Without pausing to let the bug attack again, Ryoga threw the bandanas at it, they did more damage than any other attack and succeeded in copping off several legs and opening a wide wound one its stomach. This angered the bug more and it attacked him with it's pincers while simultaneously twisting around its spiked tail to attack from the back also.

Ranma saw the tail and realized Ryoga wouldn't be able to dodge both. Making a split second decision, she jumped up and aimed a punch at the open wound.

What she hadn't stopped to notice was the demon blood's reaction to the grass below. Anything touched instantly sizzled and blackened; there was no time for Ryoga to warn her, and he watched on helplessly.

Ranma hit the acid straight on, splashing the liquid up her right arm and over her front. Her scream was almost as loud as the creature's when her fist hit and broke through its spine killing it almost instantly.

Ryoga watched, frozen, as Ranma fell and had the ground with a crunch, bringing another scream. Nothing had ever scared him more than her eyes, staring blankly, emptily, up at the sky. The wounds covering her bleed and sizzled openly and he saw bone in some places sticking through.

'_She's dead…' _

(_**I was gonna end it here but decided it was too short)**_

Ryoga panicked and rushed over and felt the crushing feeling lift when she groaned and shut her eyes. He picked her up and, careful of the acid,__tried not to look at the worst while he rushed over to the stream. His stomach turned at the amount of blood clouding the water as he tried to keep her head above the water without getting wet.

Thankfully, the acid did not stick to the flesh and a relieved Ryoga watched the green liquid come out of all her wounds. The tatters of her shirt followed the green liquid downstream.

Ryoga pulled Ranma out of the water when he was sure it was all out and bandaged her with the first aid in his pack plus a ripped up shirt to cover all the wounds completely.

Even though Ranma looked better now, Ryoga could already see red blossoming through the bandages.

'_I need to find a hospital'_

Ranma's face scrunched in pain when he picked her up bridal style, after grabbing his bag, but she did not wake. Her pale face was beginning to worry Ryoga. He'd seen the Centipede's attack and knew that Ranma was like this because she was saving him.

Ryoga's face tightened with determination, Ranma wasn't going to die. He'd make sure of it.

_**Just so you know, the Inuyasha ppl **__**will **__**be in the next chap. *I think ^^'***_


	3. Friends

_Part of me wishes I had a more meaningful life. The other part wants a banana._

The pain hit me and I couldn't think, couldn't move. It was worse than anything I'd ever had before in my short memory, like being stabbed with a burning knife over and over and it **wouldn't stop**.

Something in my mind registered that I was the one making the awful screaming and I tried to stop before hitting the ground and beginning again with the new worse pain. I couldn't see though I knew my eyes were open.

'_Ryoga…' _The thought hit me and I groaned and tried to move. I needed to see that my all of this pain was for something. Then, blissfully, my eyes caught a blurry view of my companion and I was safe to slip into unconsciousness.

**XXXXXXX**

It had been hours as far as Ryoga could tell, but he couldn't stop, not for the pain in his legs or the sleep-deprivation fogging his brain. Ranma's heartbeat shuddered faintly against his chest.

_Bum… bum… bum… _silence for a few seconds, Ryoga's panicked grip on her cooling body tightened,_ bum… bum…; _ this continued late into the night, until finally the trees thinned. Finally there were lights ahead. Ryoga didn't know how but he'd managed to get to a town.

The boy's strength gave out at the first house and he collapsed on his back with Ranma still cradled in his arms in front of the door, out of it almost instantly.

'_She'll be ok' _

**XXXXXXX**

The world was slowly coming into blurry focus; he struggled to remember where he was, and why he hurt all over. When it came back to him, Ryoga sat up straight, much to the protest of his muscles.

He was in an old fashioned hut and under him was a straw mat. Weirder was the fact that his normal clothes were gone and under his blanket he was dressed only in old-fashioned forest green hakamas. The top jacket to the outfit was beside him and Ryoga grabbed it before stepping outside.

Nothing much fazed him anymore since meeting Ranma but the scene outside was crazier than anything he'd seen thus far. The village around him was completely devoid of any technology. The men all had the same topknot in their hair and everyone was wearing traditional clothes. Then he spotted the weirdest thing yet.

Across from him leaning against a building was a… something. He was obviously male, and just as obviously not human. Bright silver hair flowed all the way down his back and his bright red clothes stuck out like a sore thumb among all of the other colors of brown and grey, and his dog ears pricked forward at the sound of the door mat opening; Ryoga only had seconds to take this in however before gold eyes were matching his from two feet away.

"Keh, bout' time you woke up, Kagome's been up all night, wearin' herself out, tryin' t' save your friend." Ryoga blinked at the guy's accusatory look, and then realized what the man was saying.

"Ranma's okay then?" Ryoga tried not to sound too concerned but it still must have showed, the man's look softened slightly and he turned away.

"Lucky to be alive is what she is, follow me." He led Ryoga to a different hut not too far from the one where he first woke up. Ryoga took this chance to put on the hoari top and was surprised at how light and soft it was. Then they were there.

"Oi, Kagome! That other guy woke up!" There was some scuffling noise from inside and a girl's voice called,

"Just a second!" The mat was pushed aside and a regular teen-age girl was standing there. She wore a green and white school uniform and looked completely worn out, there were shadows under her brown eyes, but she smiled at him cheerily. "Good morning! Your friend's right in here. She had a rough night but I think she'll be alright."

Ryoga followed her into the dim hut and waited for his eyes to adjust. Ranma's small form lay on a futon in the back corner. He walked over and sat down beside her to get a better look.

The blanket was pulled up to her chin for privacy but Ryoga could still see that her color was a lot healthier than it had been. Her hand was warm and her pulse beat steadily against his hand when he checked it.

"When will she wake up?" Ryoga turned to the girl, Kagome.

"Could be an hour, could be a day." She sighed, "I'm not really an expert on the subject." Ryoga went to next most important question when she was done.

"Where are we? Are we near Tokyo?" Ryoga had some questions for the Tendos on why Ranma was a permanent girl with no memories.

"You know about Tokyo?!" She sounded shocked. "That means you must be from the future too… that's weird. I wondered, I mean your clothes, but it was so unlikely…" she babbled on, ignoring Ryoga's skeptical look.

"Okay, this is the past. I don't know exactly what time you're from, because your clothes are Chinese, but defiantly from the future. What year was it when you last checked." She looked at him expectantly and Ryoga racked his brain for the year, he didn't usually get to look at a calendar much.

"I think it was about nineteen-ninety. Last I checked."

"Okay you're from eighteen years in the past from me then and about four hundred-eighty years from your time here." Ryoga was astonished, if this girl was telling the truth, and she had no reason for lying, then they were much further from home than he first thought.

"There was this thing before, a monster or something. It did this." Ryoga gestured toward Ranma, who hadn't moved through their whole conversation. "What was it?"

"That was a demon." The dog-man answered for Kagome. "You were stupid to take it on, with just you two humans. You're lucky it didn't eat ya both."

Ryoga bristled at the apparent blow to his martial arts skills, but decided to let it go. He was too tired now anyways.

"Is there any way for us to get back to our own time?" If he realized he was subconsciously including Ranma, he didn't react on it.

"Well, I use the Bone-eaters well. It may work for you too, but then you'd be in my time." Ryoga shook his head as images of all the people he knew eighteen years older flashed through his head.

"No, that wouldn't work; we'll have to find another way." The room's atmosphere suddenly changed when Ranma sat up and gasped in pain.

"Lay back down! You're gonna open your wounds!" Ryoga and Kagome said in unison and looked at each other, surprised.

Ranma turned blurry vision on Ryoga with a stubborn set to her mouth, but did as he asked.

"Where're we? An' who're they?" She managed with effort, to ask. It was apparent her wounds were reopened by her sudden movement before; blood was beginning to stain the bandages that wrapped her chest.

"You're not gonna believe me, but we're like five-hundred years in the past from our time." Ryoga chuckled as he said this, realizing how crazy it sounded and was surprised when Ranma joined in.

"What's weirder is that I can't tell the difference. I don't remember that other time." She wheezed, "On another note, how bad off am I?"

"You have severe to minor acid burns along your chest and shoulders, some to the bone deep. It'll probly take some time to heal, six weeks at least." Kagome answered her in a brisk tone before standing, "I'll go get you some more herbs for the pain."

She walked out and Inuyasha followed her with a "keh".

"Oi, Ryoga?"

"Ya?" Ranma smirked at him.

"Why have you been holding my hand this whole time?" Ryoga looked down and sure enough he was cradling her, much smaller, hand in his. He'd forgotten to let go when he checked her pulse before and he proceeded to let go try to explain, which only made her smirk grow into a full ear-to-ear grin.

"Excuses, excuses Ryoga-kun." She teased in an overly girly voice that made Ryoga's face redden, but later, when Kagome returned with the medicine, they were both on the floor laughing like maniacs.

Somehow they'd become friends, and, Ryoga reasoned to himself, in some ways she isn't even like Ranma. So it was okay.

_**Lol I like the end a lot!**_


	4. New people

_Life is a road, and I wanna keep going on…_

Ranma's burns had healed with and Inuyasha-like speed and she was in traveling condition within days, but some odd things happened during those days…

**XXXXXXX**

Starting when the rest of the gang returned…

Ranma had been laying and dozing on her futon in the hut, which she had earlier discovered belonged to an old woman named Keade, when voices approached. One was familiar and the other two were new.

"So no sign of him in the north?" Kagome's voice asked, sounding anxious for some reason.

"No… " Another female voice answered morosely.

"I'm sorry Sango-chan, but don't lose hope! We'll find Kohaku-kun, safe-and-sound" Kagome's cheerful voice was not a bit forced, Kagome could do that, Ranma'd discovered. She'd do anything to cheer someone's day, even Inuyasha, who she was constantly fighting with.

"Yes," A male voice this time, they were very close now. "It is a certainty. Now lady Kagome, has anything else happened during our absence?" He finished his question as they entered and saw Ranma, who was now sitting up.

Before anyone could blink a man was kneeling in front of her with violet eyes and bluish black hair.

"My, and who could this young lady be?" He snatched up one of her hands and asked before she could answer. "Will you do me the honor of bearing my child?"

"Uh, I don't think that would work very well, seeing as, I've been told, I used to be a boy." Was the first sensible answer that came to mind.

It was then a large boomerang bashed down on the guy's head and the ominous words rang out.

"You heard her Miroku…" Ranma felt a shiver run down her back at the pure terror the women's look produced in Miroku as he answered meekly.

"O-of course Sango." Before retreating.

"Your friends?" Ranma quirked an eyebrow at the embarrassed Kagome.

"Yep…"

This was when Ryoga decided to enter with Inuyasha. They were both sweaty and were holding their respective weapons, they'd probably been sparring.

"You guys back already?" Inuyasha greeted the rest of his group.

"Yes, obviously." Sango answered in a tight voice while still glaring at Miroku.

"O-kay then." Inuyasha made a wise decision and backed away from the angry demon slayer.

Ryoga went over and plopped down on the edge of the futon and asked. "Friends of theirs?" while inclining his head toward the shard hunters.

"Yep, watch out though. The guy's a perv." Everyone in the room jumped when Ryoga put two and two together and burst out laughing.

"Who's this?" Miroku noticed the new person in the hut and peered curiously at Ryoga.

"Ryoga Hibiki." Ryoga couldn't hold back chuckles as he looked at the poor monk.

Kagome seemed to realize something and asked.

"Were you joking earlier, about the 'used to be a boy' thing Ranma?" Ranma squirmed a little when everyone turned to look at first Kagome, then the red-head herself.

"Well, no. It's true I did used to be a guy. Right Ryoga?" Ranma mercilessly turned the spotlight on her companion, who acted just as uncomfortable in it.

"Yes, it was a curse. Ranma was a guy who turned into a girl when he got hit with cold water and turned back with hot water. That was before he got stuck in this form and lost his memory."

Ranma, who still hadn't gotten a full explanation, adopted a skeptical look along with everyone else.

"Do ya got any proof?" Inuyasha called from the doorway. Ryoga, offended, decided to show them his proof.

"Start some water boiling please?" He asked Kagome politely, which she began to do by using a bin full of water in one corner of the hut. When she finished filling a pot full and had set it on the fire, Ryoga walked over to the same bin and to everyone's surprise, jumped in.

More surprising, however, was when, instead of a wet boy, a soaked black piglet swam to the edge and jumped out. The bandana around its neck confirmed its identity.

"Ryoga…" Ranma said, "That was so… cool!" She dived forward and grabbed Ryoga by his bandanna before giving him a full grin.

"Now you're a cute li'l pig!" Ryoga bweeed back at her and wiggled to be put down. Instead Ranma turned him around and said to the rest of the group.

"This is way more than proof." She said, and Kagome nodded mutely.

"He's gotta be a demon or somethin'" Inuyasha muttered under his breath.

"Inuyasha! You know that's not true! He doesn't have a demonic aura." Kagome yelled at him.

"Well I say there's no other way he could be a pig right now!" He yelled right back.

"He said he had a curse! You're so insensitive!"

"There they go again." A child's voice can from beside Ranma, and both she and Ryoga turned to see a really small kid sitting licking a candy pop.

He had red hair tied up in a blue bow and was wearing a fur vest over his clothes. Stranger still, he had a fox tail and feet.

"So this is usual?" Ranma got over the weirdness quickly as usual.

"Yep, but don't get them wrong. They love each other." Ranma's eyebrows went up in disbelief, but the kid just shrugged before getting up and holding out a hand.

"I'm Shippo; you shake my hand now and say your name." Ranma did as he said awkwardly and Shippo giggled.

"Isn't that weird? Kagome taught me it; she said it's from another land in the future. It's how they say hello." He gave her a smile and looked at Ryoga.

"This is the guy who turned into a pig, what's his name?"

"Ryoga." Ranma answered while Ryoga bweeed.

Shippo squatted down and looked the little pig in the eye. "Your sooo lucky, I wish I could do transformations that well. I just can't seem to get my tail to change with the rest of me." He sighed like this was a big disappointment.

"So Shippo," Ranma asked, "What is up with the tail?"

"I'm a fox demon!" The kid answered but before he could go on a loud shout interrupted from across the room.

"Inuyasha SIT!!!!" Immediately the dog-boy went plummeting face first into the ground. Shippo went to go tease him and the others acted like this was usual while Kagome stormed out of the hut.

"Well, look what we've got ourselves into." Ranma half-smiled down at Ryoga and he nodded in return.


	5. Memories

_**Don't flame me!!! T.T**_

The stubborn half-demon refused to wait any longer after a measly three days and declared that the two martial artists either get up to follow or stay behind, before snatching up Kagome's bag and making toward the village outskirts.

Kagome looked furious and ready to repeat a certain word several times, but Ranma stopped her.

"It's okay; I'm tired of sitting around. Plus I still need to see how well these clothes feel."

The other day, Keade had surprised them all by presenting Ranma with a clothing set similar to the one the red-head had worn previously, though more fitted.

It was an odd style compared to those worn on the street in this time. The bottoms were deep navy pants, but the usual puff had been cut down to stay nearer to the legs. The shirt was tailored to fit her female form snugly and the red fabric allowed easy movement while they were walking, but was still soft enough to be comfortable, and held up to the elements.

Luckily for all, the outfit also didn't aggravate her wound. So the shard-hunters were able to continue on their journey without delay from the two newbies.

Ryoga had refused to give up his regular outfit, but didn't stand out to much beside Kagome. He carried his own pack and Ranma felt slightly odd not carrying something as well. Everyone else had their own thing as well and Ranma felt slightly odd not carrying something. That was until Keade caught up to them just outside the village.

"Here child, ye'll be needing this." She hobbled over to hand Ranma a small sack. The red-head eyes widened when she opened it to find all of the extra food the old women had along with extra herbs, bandages, and her old tattered shirt and pants.

"Grandma Keade, I couldn't take this…" Ranma made to give it back, but the old women held up a hand.

"Oh, don't take an old women's kindness for granted, young one." Keade's one eye sparkled with amusement. "Ye will need those greater than I on your journey."

Ranma resigned herself and slung the pack around her neck before giving the old priestess a grateful look.

"Oi! C'mon, we're losing daylight!" Inuyasha yelled, behind them.

"Bye Keade!" Armed with the new provisions, everybody set out once again.

"So, where are we going?" Ryoga, who'd been abnormally quiet, asked.

"Anywhere Inuyasha wants, really." Miroku answered offhandedly. Ranma and Ryoga shared a look.

"And this works for you all?" Ranma questioned skeptically.

"Hey, are you doubting my directional sense?!" Inuyasha turned to glare back at them.

"No, that's not what she was doing at all." Miroku spoke up again.

"She was just asking a question, you don't need to snap at her." Kagome chided, causing them both to launch into another argument, though this one was not serious enough to end with a sit.

And of course, through typical Jusenkyo bad luck, it started raining soon after that.

"Aw, damn." Inuyasha cursed as all eyes were turned on him. "We're not stopping. It's only a drizzle."

His statement was partly true, so Kagome handed out umbrellas and Ranma set Ryoga, in his pig-form now, on top of his pack while she carried it.

"Oww, ow, ow…" The red-head hissed under her breath as the larger bag lightly hit one of her burns with every step. It began to burn slightly as the skin ripped.

"Bwii?" Ryoga squealed something that Ranma took to be along the lines of 'are you ok'.

"I'm good. I hate rain with a passion though." The little pig gave another, apologetic, squeal. "S'okay, not your fault." Ranma panted.

A passing man driving a cart looked at them all like they were crazy, Ranma noticed through her blurring vision made an odd decision.

"It's that guys fault." The red-head laughed weakly at her own joke, before the pain overtook her and she dropped in the middle of the road. The last thing she heard was Ryoga's panicked squeals and Kagome's voice over her.

XXXXXXX

"This is entirely your fault, Inuyasha! Anyone could see Ranma shouldn't have been moving yet!"

Ranma moved on the edge of consciousness and tried to hold on to the dream she'd been having. There was another girl with dark, short hair. She smiled up at her, cute… Another voice came in, Ryoga followed into sight. She knocked him away and the dark haired girl helped him up. Why was she so angry? Who was this girl?

"Keh, she said she was fine! Sorry for believing her!"

The dark-haired girl turned back to Ranma, she was angry now. Her mouth moved, but nothing came across. Then she turned away and walked out. Ryoga grinned happily and followed at her side. There was more anger. The girl shouldn't be with Ryoga, it was wrong.

"In Inuyasha's defense Lady Kagome, Lady Ranma had seemed to have recovered from her wounds until the extra pack's weight was added."

Instead of going after them, her dream self made their way out into an unfamiliar garden and over to a pond.

"That is true Kagome-chan."

"I know, but… she has been out for a long time…"

Sitting next to it, the strong feelings still went through her. This was jealousy, nothing made sense. Her dream self hit the ground with one fist and leaned over the water. Suddenly all froze; the face in the water wasn't female. This man's hair was black; dark blue eyes stared into her own. This wasn't right, that wasn't her. Ranma's head began to throb.

"Look she's moving! What's wrong, Kagome?"

"I don't know, she might be having a nightmare."

Different scenes now, unidentifiable images: black and white fur, a kettle, cats eyes staring all around, a log set between two poles off of the ground. None of it made sense!

"Maybe she's finally waking up, and then we can leave!"

"That's rude; the people who live here have been very kind."

The girl appeared several times, with different feelings, mostly anger, but something else? Another reflection, the dark-haired boy was hit with water, another freeze, there she was! That boy was not her, she was not him. But Ryoga said…

"I wish she'd wake up too, I'm worried."

"Ranma's stronger than this, she'll recover."

This voice close to her side broke through to Ranma and allowed something else to come to the surface.

"Akane!" The red-head suddenly shot to her feet and looked unseeingly with eyes clouded by fever at the strangers surrounding the hut. Only one face was familiar, so with speed that shouldn't accompany the wounded, Ranma stumbled over to Ryoga.

And latched around his waist.

"I'm scared, not me. Not him." Ranma lifted her face from where she'd buried it in his shirt. "Akane's gone, I can't find her, can't find anything."

With those finale words her head dropped back down and the red-head was out again. Nobody moved for a while, until Kagome made to move her back to the futon in the middle of the floor, only to find that the martial artist's grip was absolute.

Ryoga didn't speak, only stared at the opposite wall with an odd look on his face while the others gave up and laid the blanket over the girl, who was practically in his lap.

Ranma's memories were returning.

_**Weird, I know. Memoryless girl Ranma and Ryoga are getting kinda coupleish, tell me your opinion. And also remember, this is not Ranma trapped in his female form! This is a completely different person made from Ranma's cursed side, which has his memories, sort of, and basic personality, though she will be a little more girly, due to influences. **_

_**R+R ^^**_


	6. Sparring, Voices, and Supossed Threats?

In was night when Ranma woke once again… still in Ryoga's lap. She gasped and leapt backward when she looked up into his sleeping face. Then it all came back to her. The weird dreams, the fever, and _she'd _hugged, or tackled, _hi._

Everyone around her was sleeping peacefully. Guilt overcame Ranma when she noticed Kagome out cold near the red-head's sick-bed, with a wet rag in her hand and her large yellow bag under her head. Another glance confirmed it; the miko had given up her sleeping bag and probably stayed up during the night to care for Ranma. She'd seemed like the type.

"So, you're finally up."

Ranma stiffened and turned to see Inuyasha watching her.

"Yeah," Ranma took the thick sleeping bag from the floor and put it over the schoolgirl, before turning to him. "How long have I been out?"

"You lost us a whole day." He didn't sound particularly angry, but maybe that was just her imagination.

"Well I wasn't exactly planning on dropping cold on the road." Inuyasha gave her a look that said that that was exactly what he'd expected of her.

"Kagome had to stay up again too, she only just went to sleep." He informed her. Ranma mentally flinched, she didn't like it when people fussed over her.

The red-head shook her head of these thoughts and turned back to the hanyou still watching her.

"Will you spar with me?" Inuyasha made a surprised face, like this was the last thing he'd expected to hear.

"You'll open your wounds." He was already gettin to his feet and sliding his sword into his sash as he spoke.

"I can handle it." Ranma led the way out of the wooden hut and was met with a large courtyard in the center of a village. Nobody was out yet, the sun just above the horizon enough to give thin light. Yesterday's rain clouds had disappeared completely and only the mud on the ground was left behind.

Ranma took a position well across from the hanyou in the space they had.

"You won't be needing that, we'll go hand-to-hand." She stated and pointed at Tessaiga. Inuyasha looked disgruntled but slid out the sword in its sheath and placed it on the ground without missing a beat.

They both got into ready positions, largely different ones. Ranma shifted one foot forward and put her weight on the back to ready herself to jump or dodge at any moment; while also placing both hands in front to block or attack as necessary. This position came as naturally to her as breathing and she didn't question it, just went along.

Inuyasha, on the other hand, also set on leg back with his feet spread for balance and hand both hands out with fingers splayed. Some part of Ranma's brain examined this and saw flaws.

_**He's leaving his middle unprotected and his back is wide open, anyone who could avoid the claws could defeat him with one hit.**_Ranma triednot to start, this voice was not her own, it was more masculine and... confident. Inuyasha across from her showed no sign of anything amiss; he was apparently waiting for her first move.

_**Jump into the air, twist, now land behind and you've got 'im. **_Ranma followed these instructions and landed lightly behind the hanyou before he had time to see where she went. One poke to the back of the head and it was over.

Inuyasha turned to her and was obviously trying to turn his awed expression into a scowl.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" He growled out while sulkiness pulled him under.

"I… don't know…" Ranma put one hand on her head to try and fend off the growing headache, the voice from behind had gone now and left raging pain in its wake.

Inuyasha seemed to notice her distant state and walked over to retrieve Tessaiga. "This ain't over." He warned her and brushed past to enter the hut.

Ranma pinched the bridge of her nose and mused over the large turns her life was taking.

_Who was I to deserve this?_ Apparently fate wanted to answer in its own way, as Ranma looked up and spotted the last person she needed right now.

"Hi, Ryoga." He didn't answer and looked past her into the waking village. Ranma sighed and sat down one the damp grass beside him, Ryoga stayed standing and still wouldn't look at her.

"You're not Ranma, or at least, not the one I know. But you are him, somehow." He finally looked down at her and fell into a crouch to see better. This time it was the red-head who couldn't look him in the face.

"I just wonder who you really are." Abruptly he patted her on the back roughly. "This might be a good thing!" With a last fanged grin, he left her more confused than ever.

It wasn't long before they were all packed and ready to leave. The villagers waved cheerfully as they left and Kagome enthusiastically returned the favor, then they were once again on the road.

The difference this time is that everyone kept looking behind them as if the red-head was going to drop at any moment, annoying her to no end. An hour into the walk they even forced her to ride on top of the fire-cat that travelled with them.

Ryoga gave her another one of his funny looks when she gave in and clambered onto the beast without a problem. Ranma returned the favor and slumped dejectedly on Kilala's back, more than a little part of her was complaining highly at the babying treatment she was receiving.

It didn't help that she now took the time to notice, on Kilala she was now just tall enough the look the others in the eye. Ranma groaned and glared at the scenery, she most definitely wouldn't be accepting anymore of this.

So, after only a half-hour, the red-headed amnesiac slid off of the fire-cat and stubbornly walked along with the others. Nobody commented, the look on her face was answer enough for anything they had to say.

Half way through the day, without any excitement happening, they stopped for lunch. Kagome had some futuristic food that consisted of flavored noodles and vegetables in boiled water that came in cups.

Nobody seemed to enjoy it as much as Inuyasha, though it was by far Ranma's favorite food yet.

"How'd you get dried ramen into this world?" Ryoga asked at one point to no one in particular.

"Duh, she brought it with her through the well thing they told us 'bout." Ranma answered before anyone else and took another bite. Kagome got a strained look as, at the same time, Ryoga and Ranma entered into a glaring match and Inuyasha stole Shippo's ramen. The uproar the latter caused was enormous for such a little fox.

Before the situation could progress further, Inuyasha suddenly halted from hitting Shippo and growled toward a section of the forest with both hands now on his sword. Everybody was instantly on alert, Ranma and Ryoga looked confused as what to do, as everybody else quickly got into fighting positions.

"What is it, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, looking out at the forest wearily.

"Just that Jackass." The half-demon growled in reply, before drawing his sword, which transformed into a giant fang-like shape. Ranma was distracted from gaping at this when everyone around them sighed and settled back down.

Only Inuyasha, and Ranma plus Ryoga, who didn't really understand what was going on, stayed standing to face the supposed threat from the woods.

_**Ahhhh, first I'd like to apologize for the long delay. My account thing was broke, so I wasn't getting reviews and I had no inspiration to write. T.T thank you everyone for reading and reviewing. Your to good for meeeeeee… ^.^'**_


	7. A Girl

_Squiggly things are the best kinds of things._

From the space between the trunks of the trees several figures made themselves visible at a leisurely pace. One detached itself from a type of two-headed dragon and made her way over to the rest of the shard-hunters.

The two newest members took no notice of this, however. They were both too busy sizing up the demon who'd drawn his sword and was trading taunts with Inuyasha. He was dressed in pristine white and, though Ranma felt slightly like a hypocrite at the thought, was sort of feminine. Though there would be no mistaking him as a girl, with that cold of an expression.

Ranma's notice was drawn away when Ryoga started next to her and they both turned to look at the kitsune now hanging comfortably onto the boy's shoulder.

"He must not be planning to fight much, if he brought his ward." Shippo commented around the candy in his mouth.

"Who is that though?"

"Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's older half-brother, he's supposed to hate humans." Miroku had apparently finished with his meal and came to be the new informant whilst Shippo ran to play with Kagome and the little girl.

"So, you're picking up new strays now little brother?" Sesshomaru's comment, directed at them, brought attentions back to the battlefield.

"Hey! Who you callin' a stray!" Ryoga and Ranma demanded in unison. The taiyoukai barely glanced in their direction and began to spar with his little brother, leaving the two to fume in silence.

Ranma's anger quickly dissipated as she watched the two demons spar, however. Sesshoumaru's speed was something that gave her an impossible urge to spar and train against him. Inuyasha was putting up a fight well enough to show that he sparred with his brother a lot, making up for lack of speed with brute strength.

_**I could do that too. **_Ranma wondered slightly if that was her or the same voice she'd heard earlier.

As fast as it had begun, the battle was over. With Inuyasha left barking, Sesshomaru took his leave the same way he'd come, with lazy insults thrown over a shoulder. Ranma took her chance.

Inuyasha paused in his rant and yelled something after the red-head as she took off after the full-demon, it might've been a warning but Ranma ignored him. She didn't know where this battle-need came from, but she wasn't gonna turn it down.

Perhaps unluckily, the demon lord wasn't hard to catch up with.

"Oi, I wanna fight with you!" Sesshomaru didn't even turn at Ranma's course challenge and there was no sign of the little girl who'd followed him out, the redhead bristled. "You scared or somethin'!"

He did stop walking at this, but didn't turn.

"This Sesshoumaru will give you one chance to walk away with your life, women."

For some odd reason, being called 'women' pissed Ranma off more than any other thing this demon had said.

"I'll take my chances!"

Almost two seconds after jumping into the air toward the dog-demon, Ranma felt an extreme pain across her abdomen before slamming into the ground with enough force to create a small crater and unearth a tree.

Sesshomaru was in the same exact spot he'd been before she jumped and barely spared the crater a glance, before continuing his exit.

"Leaving already…?" The challenging voice sounded forced and was followed by a rough cough and the reappearance of a, now heavily bruised and covered in dirt, Ranma. A new glint had entered her eyes and she held herself as straight as she could.

"Hnnn." Sesshoumaru made a noise, but didn't show any emotion at the red-head's abrupt return to the fight.

Before Ranma could get knocked back or really start fighting, however, there came yells from the area where the rest of the group had been. She watched long enough to see Ryoga come into view before turning to the empty spot where Sesshomaru had been standing before.

'_Huh, not worth your time? We'll finish it later then.' _

**XXXXXX**

"What an idiot! Taking on that bastard on her own! She's just a human!" Kagome growled under her breath softly as they listened to Inuyasha rant from the spring they'd hunted down. The miko was re-wrapping Ranma's back since the bandage had been torn along with the red-head's new shirt.

Sango and Shippo were also bathing. The two other girls had tried not to question it when Ranma refused to take a bath with them before also trying to stroll back to the boys waiting in camp, shirtless and clothed only in filthy, ripped kimono bottoms.

They'd compromised with what Kagome would call swimsuits and what Ranma would call undergarments, but it was better than nothing. The red-head still kept her eyes pointed directly into the woods and didn't turn once during the bath, giving answers to their questions over her shoulder.

"Ranma, why did you go after Sesshomaru? You saw him fight with Inuyasha; he isn't one you'd want to pick a fight with."

"Ya, he's scary!" Shippo added to Kagome's advice before Ranma had a chance to answer.

"I wanted to see if he was really as fast as he looked I guess." Ranma said to a random tree. Kagome made a face that the red-head didn't see, like she thought that wasn't a good reason to get yourself hurt.

"What I want to know is how you not only survived, but got right back up after getting hit by a full-grown taiyoukai." Sango still didn't sound quite convinced that this was possible. "You are human right?" She added in a sarcastic after tone.

"Yeah, just had a lot of training is all." Ranma told them absently, another stream of foggy images was distracting her from the rest. _There's that boy carrying a boulder… Sparring with a fat man… That girl again… Tendo… what's that, a name?_

As suddenly as the memories had come, they ended; leaving Ranma no more clues of her identity and a splitting headache to match.

There was another brief commotion when the red-head, for a second time, tried to return to camp shirtless, but there wasn't much they could do. So Ranma ended up returning to camp in one of Kagome's pajama shirts, their difference in height making it look over-large on the shorter martial artist.

Luckily for him, Inuyasha was done ranting about Ranma's having a go at his brother. Unluckily, apparently Ryoga was just getting started...

It happened after they'd gotten settled and were finishing yet another meal of ramen.

"Ranma," Said red-head was just finishing her food and had the rest of the contents still un-swallowed; she gulped it down and gave Ryoga a quizzical look. His voice was oddly controlled sounding as he asked, "Can I talk to you?" and jerked his head toward the patch of forest behind him.

Ranma shrugged unconcernedly and set down the, now empty, plastic cup before following him out. They walked for awhile until Ranma was sure they'd be out of earshot of anyone, though considering the fact that she'd let Ryoga lead, there was a chance they could be in China.

"So, wha'dya want Ryoga?" She leaned against a tree for support as a huge yawn nearly split her head in half. The walking, fighting, and especially the headache had taken a lot out of Ranma and she certainly wasn't thanking Ryoga for dragging her out here.

"What were you thinking?" Ryoga's eyes seemed to be flashing in the dark, but Ranma still didn't seem to get that anything was off.

"'Bout what?" She yawned again and gave him a questioning look through half-lidded eyes. Ryoga exploded.

"ABOUT GOING OUT TO FIGHT THAT DEMON!" Ranma jumped back in surprise before her eyes narrowed.

"I don't see what's botherin' you. You didn't mind it when I fought that demon and saved your sorry butt a couple of days ago!" Ryoga looked taken aback when Ranma poked him in the chest, but didn't back down.

"Yeah, but that was before… You just shouldn't be fighting with your hurt!" Ranma heard him catch himself and pressed.

"Before what Ryoga! Can't you even say what you want to!" Ryoga's lip curled up, showing a pointed fang, but he just looked away and didn't elaborate. Ranma's curiosity was peeked now.

"Before what, huh pig-boy?" The name that just popped of Ranma seemed to have a greater effect on Ryoga. He glared at her once, hard, before shaking his head and, mumbling an answer, heading off slowly in the vague direction of the camp.

Ranma just stood there for the longest time, mulling over what he'd said, and mulling over the funny feelings it was giving her.

…_Before you were a girl._


	8. Closer to Home

A dark, malicious chuckle filled the small space directed at the small mirror held by a girl-child. Her skin was so pale it was like paper and was dressed in a plain kimono just as white as the rest of her. Her black, dead-looking eyes didn't seem focus on anything, but just stared on blankly.

The one who had made the horrible noise sat across from her. Most of his form was concealed from view by a large white baboon pelt, but his mouth was visible, twisted into a smirk that promised pain, under the dead animal's face.

He was focused with utmost concentration on the mirror in the pale girl's hands, and the scene it was soundlessly depicting. A short, violently red-haired girl was sitting cross-legged on the forest floor with a angry and confused look on her face, staring at a break between the trees where a bandana-clad boy had exited hours before. The masked man chortled again before addressing the child.

"Kanna, did you notice that _Inuyasha,_" He spoke the name with particular hate-filled emphasis. "and his friends have taken in two more _comrades._" The gleeful smile on his face didn't match his malevolent tone when speaking of the shard-hunters. Kanna didn't answer but the baboon covered man didn't seem to mind, idly twisting more than a third of a dark purple, almost black jewel in his hand musingly.

"Well, I should meet them properly, especially this girl." The picture in the mirror had moved to show the red-head pacing from one edge to the other restlessly. Kanna may have been dead for all she reacted. The dark hanyou spent a couple more minutes taking in the scene on the mirror before disappearing. Kanna blinked once slowly and turned to look out the window, the image in her mirror fading, and taking in the miasma clouds blocking the sky; before exiting without a backward glance.

**XXXXXXXX**

Ranma was confused, annoyed, freaked, confused, agitated, worried, confused, and exasperated, but most of all confused. Why would Ryoga react that way when she called him pig-boy? He'd looked almost disappointed… and what was with the "_Before you were a girl"_ comment. She'd been a girl this whole time hadn't she? Or had she been a boy before like Ryoga said, and he still considered her as such? And what was with this anger that still continued to come up whenever someone called her female?

The red-head huffed irritably and rose from her sitting position so she could pace the space between trees. Maybe it would help her think, she snorted out loud. There probly wasn't _anything _that could help her think right now.

"Hello girl." Except maybe punching _someone _in the face, Ranma gritted her teeth and turned slowly to face the speaker. He was male, judging by the voice, but his face and body were covered by a pelt so she couldn't see his features. He was smirking, apparently expecting her to fear him or something, but this only served to fuel Ranma's silent rage.

She wasn't getting a good feeling from this guy; he had a nasty air about him.

"You shouldn't group with certain people; it might make you some enemies. And small women like you really can't have that, can they?" His voice was hinting toward glee as he apparently took the red-head's shaking for fear.

"Oh, I don't suppose so. Since I obviously wouldn't be able to take out scum like you would I?" The hanyou blinked and shifted as the women he'd been addressing, suddenly disappeared. Before fiery pain exploded across his back and the hood fell back in his haste to spot the attacker, revealing long, slick black hair and chilling red eyes, slowly darkening in fury.

The girl was long gone, and he'd make sure not to underestimate her next time. Whatever she was, no normal human could give that many hits in a second with that kind of force. With these morbid and frustrating thoughts, Naraku took to the skies and headed toward his most recent castle to ponder his newest target.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Ranma ran as fast as she could through the trees. When she'd attacked that demon, she realized what he was now; a blast of dark had come from him that nearly knocked her back. He most definitely did not spell out good, and if they didn't already know, the inu-tachi needed to be warned. Naraku was in the area and right under their noses.

As suddenly as they always came on, one of the memories came onto the red-head forcefully, causing her to miss the next branch and come crashing to the forest floor from twenty feet up, breaking foliage as she went.

The red-head barely noticed this and only let out a small groan with she hit the ground with a _thunk!_ The barrage of images was accompanied with snatches of voices this time and all of the information was overwhelming her.

_The fat man looking over his shoulder at her. "Just over this pass and we'll be at Jusenkyo m'boy…"_

_Rain soaking through the red shirt she wore, accompanied with an odd tingling throughout her body and the cold feeling of dread in her stomach. "Married…?" _

_A large, leering face above her and the coarse feeling of wet ropes on her bare arms. "You can control the curse if you just __**tried**__…"_

_The face of a purple-haired Chinese girl grinning up at her. "Is sure, medicine will work."_

Ranma nearly passed out. It was all definitely too much, but one unexplainable thought went through her mind as she stuttered to her feet.

'_What about Akane?' _

"_So, you're really gonna try it?" Concern, definitely. Bitter smoke, Ryoga's voice, and a bright flash of light, then dark nothing. _

The pain in her head dimmed slowly as Ranma panted and leaned heavily against the tree.It wasn't hard to figure out. That had been her last memory before whatever happened to bring her here, and there'd been someone else there to see it.

But what she couldn't figure was _how _they got taken through time.

'_It musta been somethin' in that bag of his.' _Ranma mused thinking of Ryoga's large pack he was forever lugging around and straightening slowly. The memories and the pain they brought were gone now, leaving faint reminiscences.

When the red-head was well enough to look up, she was surprised to find the sky lightening under the sun's rays. She'd spent the whole night out here and, typically, immediately following this discovery several voices rang out through the still air shouting her name.

Ranma shook her head once to clear it and headed toward the gang at a run. They were that much closer to home now, she could feel it.

**Whooo, two in like… a month I think? That should be a record ^^'. Ah well, thank a bunch too everybody who reviewed. YOU'RE THE REASON FOR THIS CHAP! ty and review *love and cookies***

***edit**

**There ppl I HAVE FIXED THE defiantly of definitely error xD I'm sorry I'm terrible at spelling… and typing too apparently.**


	9. Lost

"Where've you been!" Several voices screeched in unison, as the group and a certain red-head caught sight of each other simultaneously.

"Nowhere." Ranma half-smirked, deciding to be annoying, and got a pointed look from Inuyasha in return.

"I smelled Naraku." Golden eyes glared into blue as he visibly sniffed again. "And I smell the bastard on you."

"So that _was _him I hit. He felt really evil." Ranma's expression fell when she took in everyone's, even Inuyasha's, worried expressions and repressed a shudder. This guy must really be bad if even the surly hanyou was expressing concern.

"You hit _Naraku_ and your still… alive?" Sango asked her slowly while looking at the, supposedly, normal human girl like she'd grown another head. "_How!_"

"Um…," Ranma looked slightly taken aback by the shell-shocked look everyone except Ryoga was giving her. She mumbled, "Well I don't think he expected me to be _that_ fast… But that ain't the point! Somethin' happened while I was out!"

"Well," Miroku looked down at her with an odd expression. "First I think you should tell us exactly _where _you were after this man," he glanced at Ryoga, who looked away, "came back alone."

So, Ranma told them the whole story. Beginning after Ryoga had left her in the forest and ending after he mini-fight with Naraku.

"I started heading back to warn you all that that guy was in the area when I had a –erm fit of sorts and I remembered somethin' important! Ryoga," The lost boy turned his attention from the trees and back to the red-head for the first time since she'd started talking, he'd had many different expressions cross his face, the most prominent being anger and reluctant concern.

"Can I see your bag?" He looked confused for a moment but handed it over, then let out a protest when the red-head squatted down and began taking out all his worldly belongings.

"I remember I was using this medicine stuff to get rid of… something." Ranma's face momentarily lost its concentrated look and changed into misty confusion, before she shook her head and went back to the bag. Ryoga had gone back to ignoring then all after the first protest and didn't even look down as the pots, an extra shirt and several empty food packages were added to the growing pile.

"Um, yes it's nice that your remembering things now Ranma-chan… But how does Ryoga-kun's bag come into it exactly?" Ranma looked up into Kagome's strained smile and grinned back sheepishly, she'd forgotten to explain the rest.

"Well the flash of light that I think took us here, only came up after Ryoga dived into the smoke from the medicine after me. So, I figure, it musta been somthin' in his bag that set it off."

While Ranma went back to the bottomless bag, resembling Kagome's own, everyone else turned to look confusedly between the two martial artists.

"Are they in a fight… or what?" Inuyasha looked down in surprise at Kagome leaning toward him with one hand held so that no one else could hear.

"Keh, how'm I s'posed ta know?" He scoffed, the miko didn't look discouraged, however.

"Ryoga-kun looks like it," She pointed at the silent, back turned, boy before moving her finger down to the red-head chest-deep in Ryoga's bag. "But, Ranma-chan doesn't."

This seemed to be of great importance to her, but made no difference to Inuyasha. The hanyou was saved answering though.

"I see what you mean Kagome-chan." Miroku and Sango both nodded importantly, and all three of them continued to discussing it in whispers.

Inuyasha yawned, _he _couldn't see what was so important about it, but now even Shippou had joined in.

"Aha! Think this might be it?" Everyone attention was brought back to Ranma, who was holding something up triumphantly.

They couldn't hold in the collective gasp that went up as soon as they all _recognized _it. Inuyasha's hand went up almost instantly to finger the beads around his neck identical to the ones Ranma was holding up.

"Oi, what's up? D'ya guys know what they are?" Miroku recovered and answered her question.

"Well they seem to be prayer beads used around this time." He glanced back at Inuyasha. "Very similar to the ones our friend Inuyasha is wearing right now. Ryoga-san, where did you find these?"

The monk turned when no answer came, only to be met with empty space.

"He was there a second ago…" Sango said and everyone looked around wonderingly. Ranma stood and put her hands around her mouth.

"Ryoga! That idiot probly got lost somewhere." She turned toward the forest and took off after yelling. "You guys stay here, I'll find 'em. He's so dense sometimes…" she muttered and was gone before anyone could say anything else.

"So… lunchtime?" Shippo's voice piped up hopefully from atop Kagome's bag. Mutual agreement rang throughout.

_XXXXXXXXXX_

Ryoga was, in fact, lost. He'd really only meant to separate himself from the others by a few feet of forest so he could think for awhile, but, of course, his sense of direction had him completely lost within two minutes after trying to get back.

The bandana-clad martial artist didn't feel any hopelessness settle after this realization, it was too regular for that anymore. Instead he set off at a mid-fast walk and let his mind wander; which was usually the best way to get found at these times.

There'd been a very good reason, in his mind, for the need to think alone. When they'd all found out that Ranma hadn't come back at all during the night, it'd produced a weird, powerful feeling in Ryoga. What'd bothered him even more was when his mind put together that the feeling was worry, and it was for _Ranma_, an odd girl-type of Ranma but still essentially the same person.

Ryoga could only remember one other time when he'd been this worried about someone, and that'd been Akane. His brain froze as he processed this and another realization came along with it. He hadn't thought about Akane once since he'd come to this other world.

But he _loved _her… Didn't he?

Ryoga shook his head hard and had to duck to avoid a low-hanging branch. Of course he loved her. He'd just been distracted… By Ranma!

'_Of course, it's always Ranma's fault.'_ Ryoga thought to himself, overly angry. It was probly the other martial artist's fault they were even in this world in the first place! No matter what they found in his pack.

Ryoga continued to find far-fetched and weird ways that Ranma could be connected to all the problems in his life, but the usual routine felt almost empty now. Like some part of him knew that this was all grasping at straws…

"AAARG!" This time he'd been too slow to duck under the branch. The same branch from earlier, he noticed with a sigh through his slightly watering eyes, brought by the slight sting caused by the impact. Ryoga wished he had his pack; it was starting to get dark.

The dark-haired martial artist shrugged and decided that this was just a good of place as any and settled down under the branch to rest for awhile. He didn't get the chance, however, as an ominous, masculine voice rang out from nowhere.

"You seem to be a bit… turned around."

…Causing Ryoga to try and jump up to see the speaker, try being the main word. As soon as his feet hit the ground and his back straitened, the branch made itself known, once again connecting soundly with his cranium. This bump actually hurt enough to make Ryoga want to rub his head. He gave the branch a last withering look, which it happily ignored, and stepped well away from it.

"Who are you?" Ryoga demanded in an even tone.

_**Ah-hum there ya go 1,308 words total. A tiny chap for your enjoyment.**_


	10. Betrayed and Captured

"Naraku."

The voice answered with a weird twinge of amusement. Ryoga stiffened; this was the one person everyone they'd meet seemed to be after.

"I'm sure you've heard of me." The voice continued unperturbed and in the same laughing tone. There was definitely something off about him, Ryoga decided.

"Yeah, I have." The martial artist answered, but didn't go into detail. "What do you want with me?"

"Only to talk, you seem to be thinking hard about something." Ryoga's eyes narrowed.

"That is my problem, so if that's it…"

"You miss her right?" Naraku interrupted him gleefully. Ryoga opened his mouth to protest, but the half-demon wasn't done. "You feel like your betraying her by just being here."

Ryoga closed his mouth again, he wanted to say something, but Naraku was speaking the truth. There was nothing for him to say, the other continued.

"I could send you back, you know, to be with Akane, without Ranma." At these words Ryoga couldn't help the images that flooded his mind, the usual daydreams of a world where Ranma didn't exist and he was happy with Akane, alone…

Then, as suddenly as the first came, more recent images came.

_Ranma tilting her head down at him… "Do you know who I am?"_

_Ranma jumping in front of him, risking her life for his._

_Ranma's face, cold and pale._

_Ranma laughing with him._

_Ranma looking down at his cursed form for the first time and smiling… "Ryoga... That was so cool!"_

These and more memories from the last few days, and even from the past of a pigtailed boy leading him home from school every day so that he wouldn't get lost, flooded his mind, pushing out any images of the other dark-haired girl. Ryoga tried to push them away and brought Akane back. He didn't need Ranma, he needed Akane.

"What would I have to do?" Ryoga's voice was rough from trying to suppress the memories of the red-headed girl, but Naraku didn't seem to notice.

"I was hoping you would ask that, actually." The malicious glee in his tone had grown to be almost tangible in the air. "It's just a small thing…"

Ryoga could hear the smile in his voice.

"I want the girl."

Those four little words seemed to both pierce and grab at Ryoga; there was no mistaking what girl he was talking about. This could be his one chance, to be with Akane… but at the sacrifice of Ranma. He tried to pull up all those time when Ranma had fought and teased him, and succeeded, the piercing numbed into a sting in his chest.

This was about the point when a third voice broke into his reverie.

"Ryoga, you idiot! You wanna know how much everyone's been worryin' about you!" Ryoga turned slowly to meet the indigo eyes flashing with something that couldn't possibly be concern… and the dam on his emotions almost broke. But his mind was made up; he straitened and turned so he wasn't looking at Ranma.

"So… there she is, take her." His voice only wavered a little.

"Huh, Ryoga what're you-" Her voice lost all its force and ended in a sharp gasp. Ryoga heard the rustle that meant this Naraku had landed in the clearing. "Ryoga run! That's Naraku, he'll kill you!" He blocked her out and didn't move.

"Oh I won't be killing him, you see, this young man just did me a great favor."

"No way! Ryoga'd never help YOU!" Ranma sounded so sure, indignant at the very idea. "Right Ryo-"

"Enough." There was more rustling, but Ryoga didn't turn.

"Oi, leggo of me, Ryoga, get help!" The boy left on the ground saw the half-breed wrap Ranma in tentacle like appendages, while she struggled futilely, and pull her toward him whilst taking to the air. She was still struggling when he spoke.

"There now you have what you want…" He had to stop and clear his throat. "Now hold up your side of it."

Ryoga forced himself to look up and take in Ranma's reaction, but she didn't start screaming at him like he expected… it was much worse. Her eyes seemed to deaden as the emotion drained away and her struggles ceased as it sunk in.

Then Naraku laughed.

"You stupid boy, you actually believe I'd send you back? So you could be free?" His mocking voice ran through Ryoga like a knife with every word.

"Even if I could, a person who would give up his comrades like this doesn't really deserve it. "Don't you think?" He posed this last question down at the unresponsive girl in his position, followed by a ringing laugh. Ranma didn't answer but turned to Ryoga, her eyes were dry.

"Friends…" Her mouth barely moved but they both heard her. "Not comrades, friends."

Naraku started to move away through the air as the second sentence faded.

"We were FRIENDS!" Ranma screamed, never taking her eyes off of Ryoga. Then they were gone.

This was really the first time Ryoga ever wanted to kill himself… But then, he'd never seen Ranma cry before either.

**XXXXXXXX**

Kagura was another 'child' of Naraku, though she'd like to think otherwise. Musing more on this, she was interrupted by the sudden arrival of her creator, carrying a girl… who wasn't Kikyo? This pricked at her curiosity, and judging by the expression on Naraku's face this girl was special in some way. That's when he noticed her, of course.

"Kagura."

Hate seething through her, Kagura bowed her head in feigned respect.

"Yes, Naraku?"

He smirked in a way that made her stomach crawl at Kagura's fake obedience; they both knew it did her no good.

"Watch this girl, get Kanna as well." Kagura's lip curled, but she went to do as told, until his voice halted her.

"And Kagura, if you should fail…" Her eyes hardened as he took the dark-red lump from his pelt the beat faster against his palm in response, then gave it a light, almost experimental squeeze. Even though she expected it by now, Kagura could barely keep herself standing and was unable to suppress the gasp the tiny squeezing of her heart by her 'father' gave her. "Your life is forfeit."

The wind-witch allowed herself to fall onto her knees as his malicious laugh faded down the hall way of the once lively castle and couldn't help once again wishing for the impossible…

'_Free like the wind…'_

_**Haha I was gonna make this longer but I'm going on a trip today so… well maybe the next one will be longer**_** :D**

**1,077 words**


	11. Control

_**Hey thanks all who have reviewed! I'm putting this at the beginning so I don't forget. Sorry updates have been slow, but I'm a bum. Plain and simple for ya, but I've got the rest of the story mapped out (just not written) so it'll be good! **_

_**Just asking here… has anyone found a way to fix the updater thing? Mine won't work… :P**_

"Where am I?"

It'd been well after morning when the red-headed captive finally awoke, though there was no change in the castle's dreary lighting.

The wind-witch was almost relieved when she saw the girl start to sit up. It'd been a long, boring, and mostly silent night, punctuated only by the occasional toss and murmur of the dark hanyou's newest pawn.

Kagura knew she didn't really need sleep, being the demon she was, but she still had to stifle a yawn as the red-head fixed dark, glaring cerulean eyes in her direction.

"Where am I?" The captive girl repeated more forcefully. Kagura viewed her with half-lidded eyes, if she didn't give an answer this girl would probly make some kind of commotion, then Naraku would she was awake and come here… The wind-witch sighed.

"Some dead castle in some dead forest." Kagura sighed again and stretched her arms above her when that didn't seem to satisfy the red-head, a hard thing to do in her stiff kimono. The red-head watched her with a distrustful glare, which Kagura was pretty used to already, before noticing Kanna.

The void child didn't even react when she scooted a few inches back in surprise.

"Whatsa' kid doin' in here?" She scowled "An' where's that Naraku bastard?"

"Probly here or maybe not, why should I know?" Kagura recrossed her legs and propped an arm upon them before resting her chin in her hand. The martial artist in turn looked surprised at the lack of anger or defense for her master coming from Kagura and then scowled again as the lack of useful information set in. Then her anger seemed to melt away and she slumped against the wall. The wind-witch was actually stunned for a moment, and kind of disappointed, she'd expected at least _some _kind of resistance or escape attempt.

"Oi, what're your names?" The red-head had fixed her gaze onto Kagura once again, but there was a noticeable glint of curiosity in it this time.

"Kagura." Kagura actually surprised herself; this was the longest conversation she'd ever had that wasn't entirely unpleasant. She was even about to answer for the other incarnation, since the red-head had turned to the albino girl after Kagura's answer, when another surprise came.

"Kanna."

It was only the tiniest whisper but they both still heard it. The wind-witch could barely stop herself from gaping in awe. That was the first time she'd ever heard Kanna talk to someone other than Naraku or herself.

"M' name's Ranma." The red-head half-smiled for a moment at both of them. Kagura just stared back. Didn't this girl know that they were keeping her prisoner? "I'm the greatest martial artist ever!"

Ranma smirked confidently for a moment, before her expression turned to confusion. Kagura heard her mumble, "Why did I say _that_," under her breath.

'_Maybe she's insane…'_ Kagura watched as the girls expression once again dampened in remembrance of some depressing fact. It was all silent for awhile once again, until Ranma started squirming again.

"So're you guys some a' those demon things? A'cause ya don't look like some a' the ones I've seen." Kagura almost snorted at the red-heads blunt nature, but took it in stride. She was actually starting to enjoy conversing with this girl. Insane or not, she was unlike anyone the demon had ever known.

"I am the wind." Kagura pulled out her fan and displayed it with her usual flourish, causing Ranma to watch the little puffs of dust it stirred up dance across the floor happily.

"That's so cool! How'd ya do that? Did ya get cursed like Ryo-…?" Ranma broke off in mid-sentence and shook herself. "Ah… never mind. What about you?" To Kanna this time.

"The void." Kanna whispered without expression. Ranma looked confused for a moment, but seemed to realize there was no other way to explain it.

"Isn't that sweet?" Two occupants in the room flinched, while the third only tightened her grip on the circular mirror she held. Ranma looked around and tried to locate the dark hanyou, he didn't even seem to be in the room, but his voice rang out clearly.

"Thank you for keeping our guest happy whilst I was away, Kagura." The wind-witch's only response was to close her fan and harden her expression.

Ranma scowled then stiffened as her expression turned to shock, and Naraku inserted a shard of the Shikon jewel, tainted black, strait into her neck. Almost instantly, as the wound closed over and sealed over the dark fragment, all emotion faded from her expressive eyes and was replaced by an obedient, deadening that looked out of place, wrong, on the girl's young face… Kagura turned away and got to her feet.

"Will that be all?"

"Yes, you've done well, Kagura." She repressed a growl and left the girl to her fate, Kanna at her side. It wasn't really their business anyway, or so Kagura told herself.

_XXXXXXXX_

Ryoga wandered for a full day before he managed to find the group, and almost walked right past their camp site. Kagome lightly grabbing onto his arm, with the worry fading from her expression, stopped his trance. She smiled up at him.

The rest of their looks of surprise and relief, then confusion as no spirited red-head arrived as well, made him feel sick inside.

"Did Ranma-chan find you Ryoga-kun?" Kagome's face was so open, it made him feel worse. He briefly considered lying, saying that no, Ranma hadn't found him. But, he couldn't do that, better they know it from him. Know what he'd done.

Ryoga knew it was all his fault. Everything.

The light that took them from their home, Ranma's pain, her capture… Now that he thought about it, his curse was probly his fault too. It was almost ironic, all those years wasted…

The group around him was just seeming to notice his emotions.

"Hey, you okay?" Shippo's childish voice asked what they all wanted to know.

"Ranma's not coming." Ryoga said by way of answer, and then fell silent.

"Oi, whatcha' mean by that?" Inuyasha was never the patient type, Ryoga swallowed hard. Would Akane-san ever forgive him if she knew? It didn't really seem to matter as much as it should, but everything had been surreal ever since that one time when he first saw a red-head tilted in confusion over his own.

"Naraku's got her, it's my fault." Kagome let go of his arm, as they all showed signs of shock, then understanding. Miroku patted him on the shoulder.

"I'm sure you did all you could for our young friend, but Naraku is powerful. We'll get her back from him." He offered a small smile. "Somehow." The rest nodded in agreement.

Their assurances, faith in him, made Ryoga feel even worse, he needed them to know, hate him like he hated himself.

"Don't you see! I gave her up for lies! Ranma's gone and it's because of me!" Ryoga panted from his outburst, as a different kind of understanding began to dawn in their eyes. "He said I could go home, and I sold her out for it."

It seemed there was nothing to say. Inuyasha muttered a ruff Keh and began cleaning up camp. Putting out the fire was done in silence, and the remains of dinner was packed away in Kagome's bag. Sango assured him that it could happen to anybody, but he could see her and the monk trading glances as she boarded the fire cat once all traces were eradicated, Ryoga refused to ride as well. Kagome rode with Inuyasha and it was decided that they would head back to Keade's village to make a plan.

Nothing more was said about the lost red-head.

_**Well it was a bit longer, 1,353 words ^^'. If you think Ryoga is overdramatic… well I kinda do to. But he's always been an overdramatic kind of person, right? Hehe… **_


	12. Breaking Free

'_This bites.' _

Ranma could never remember being possessed before, if this is what was happening, but it totally sucked in her opinion.

When she first woke up, laying straight on her back, chalked full of sore muscles, and unable to open her eyes, she'd realized that she couldn't move. She then realized that Naraku was in the room, chuckling to himself, and her clothes had been changed to a more… fitted outfit. Ranma hoped one of her holders of before had done the honors, in league with Naraku or not, she'd enjoyed their company whilst she had it.

"Get up."

Ranma's body followed the order quickly, almost pulling muscles. Ranma growled internally, she hated following this sleaze ball's orders like some pet dog… but at least her eyes were open now. She got a new look at her surroundings.

Instead of the dreary indoors she'd been knocked out inside of, open air, if you could call it open, meet her gaze. The red-head guessed they were in the castle's courtyard, and it was full of demons. Their spitting jaws swam as mobs, through the air, in the rotting trees, and all over the ground. You could barely see through them to take in the cloudy, almost purple sky.

It would have made a frightening picture to anyone other than the pig-tailed girl.

Ranma would have concluded that she was the only human there, if it weren't for the boy. He stood in the line of demons beside Naraku, which she stood in front of, and just looked ahead with dead-eyes, without emotion.

His clothes were stained and torn; the only thing he carried was a sort of bone scythe on a chain. What use could he be to someone like Naraku? It made no sense, to have kids in a place like this…

Ranma wondered if her own eyes had that look, glazed over, or if Naraku could see her hate and defiance as he approached were she stood. She didn't think so. The look on his face was almost joyful as he spoke.

"We're going to take down Inuyasha today. With this girl." No one spoke, but the disbelief of his followers was almost tangible. Another small child-like demon with light lavender colored hair, holding a weapon so big it was almost comical in his small hands, scoffed audibly. Naraku had seemed to expect this and turned could eyes on the incarnation.

"This is not just a human; she has abilities yet to be known."

Ranma was only half-listening as he assured them of her power. She was fighting his hold over her body while the dark hanyou was distracted. Ranma _needed _to sock him a good one, right in the eye, he was just in range for it…

Strangely, the back of her neck is where the control seemed to be coming from. It throbbed in response to her efforts and sharp pain followed every pulse, but Ranma wasn't one to give up easily. Some would almost call her stubborn to the point of pig-headedness.

So, as Naraku gloated to his minions, she got the feeling back in her arm. Ranma felt sweat pop up on her brow as the index finger on her right hand twitched and the limb began to tremble. The pain was blinding now, but she ignored it. Just to wipe that disgusting smirk off his face…

There! Just as Naraku was turning back toward her, Ranma watched in relish as his face turned from smug to surprise as her closed fist made contact… and the dark hanyou was sent flying sideways twenty feet straight into the castle's stone wall. He left a large hole at the impact and disappeared into the confines of the building.

Ranma was glad to feel her face arrange itself into a grin of self-accomplishment, just like it should, but couldn't make her legs move to go hit him again. The red-head almost pouted.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Kagura was in shock. She stood side by side with her fellow incarnations, and they watched in complete silence as this tiny girl, tiny HUMAN girl, who looked as if she couldn't lay a hand on the smallest flea demon, did what they'd all wanted to do since their creation, punched their master straight through a wall, and then gloated about it.

All when she was apparently 'under his control'.

Kagura repressed the urge to woot and howl with glee before giggling like a school girl at Naraku's face as he pulled himself from the rubble.

For Ranma's benefit, she didn't flinch when the dark hanyou snarled at her and grabbed her throat. She just smirked at the side of his face without the black eye and spit straight into his good eye. Naraku's resolve broke.

He threw her into a tree as the incarnations watched; the crack of the truck snapping under the force rang through the courtyard loudly. But, even though that would have hurt one of them, when it should have completely broken the little human, she sat up, and smiled. This girl is so infuriating.

"Ya can't break me, bastard." Naraku obviously wanted to throw her again, but he needed her for his plot to work. And he needed her completely under the jewel shard's grasp, how she escaped was a mystery he needed to find out. How, to stop it as well.

Ranma was almost happy when Naraku knocked her out. No matter the front she put up, that hit to the tree had hurt like hell and she was surprised the black shirt she was wearing hadn't ripped under the pressure. It was way more durable than anything she'd had so far in this world.

Once the girl was safely out of it, Naraku took a look at the jewel shard in her neck, and then drew back in surprise.

Before putting the shard into her neck, the dark hanyou had made sure it was completely black with taint. He hadn't wanted her to break free of his control even once, too much was riding on her role.

But now, even as he stood there, the jewel was getting lighter. It'd almost on a pink hue underneath her skin. The strangest thing about this was the fact that he felt no miko power. There was nothing special about this girl besides her unusual strength and speed. Now way that she could be purifying this shard.

Naraku's expression darkened as he put a hand over where the shard lay, feeling it taint once again under his influence. This was not good at all…

**XXXXXXXXXX**

They were avoiding him and Ryoga was almost glad because of it. With this much bad feeling crowding around him, he might set off the Shi Shi Hokodan attack accidently.

The group had decided, while he stood outside and listened in, that Naraku had most likely captured Ranma for some reason, some plot or plan of his designed to torture. Miroku had grimly reminded them all that he may have even tortured Ranma to get whatever he needed.

Ryoga knew the kind monk would never have proposed that if he knew that the martial artist was listening, but he needed to know. Ranma could be in any condition when Naraku came to fight them. She may be…

Ryoga would face anything when it came. But he was sure; Ranma would never give up without a fight. Naraku'd have to do something big to ever mute her spirit.

After they'd moved to different topics Ryoga had left. He didn't really have anywhere to go, his thoughts were so jumbled. So he went to find the well.

It was far from the village, farther then he thought it'd be. Easier to find too.

Ryoga knew he'd found the right one right when he saw it. The wooden structure looked ancient. It had vines growing up and around it and a rope ladder hung down into the confines, but it was more than that. The whole area felt light, his hand even tingled when he brushed the wood. It was definitely magic.

Ryoga had settled down beside the well, not quite touching, and been there ever since. No one bothered him. That was probly the reason he was so startled by a twig snapping from the direction of the village.

His head jerked up and he turned to take in the gruff hanyou Ryoga barely knew. Ryoga didn't speak, but Inuyasha didn't seem to be bothered. He crossed his arms and snorted, one ear twitching in the direction of the village, always alert.

"There you are. Kagome's been lookin' her head off for you." Ryoga didn't respond, only put his head back on his hand and looked away. Inuyasha grunted again, then there came a whooshing sound and when Ryoga looked he was gone.

"What're ya doin' up here anyway." Ryoga started and almost cursed, it wasn't often that people surprised him this much. But this guy and Ranma seemed to make a hobby of it.

"What are YOU doing up here?" Ryoga shot back instead of answering, just as he spotted to half-demon lying in the largest tree in the clearing.

Inuyasha cracked one eye, noticed Ryoga looking and tapped the branch below him with a clawed hand.

"Keh, my tree."

Ryoga almost shook his head. Why someone would want to be up in a tree instead of on the ground was beyond him. Ranma always used to do the same, perching atop buildings instead of being inside them.

All fell silent. Ryoga couldn't help but wonder what the half-demon was doing out here. Unless that tree was really the most comfortable in the whole forest, he didn't see a reason for the sudden visit. They'd never really interacted besides sparring a couple of times, so why…

"Naraku's a bastard. There ain't no way he'd just kill that girl, though." Inuyasha sounded entirely awkward and scratched an ear absently when Ryoga looked up at him.

Then Inuyasha froze and stood up in the tree. The sight of his nose working furiously to catch another whiff of something would have been funny if it weren't for the complete seriousness with which he did so.

"Shit! Miroku you sense that?" Ryoga turned with confusion back toward the village, and was met instead with the sight of the full gang, weapons out.

"Yes, is it who we think it is?" Miroku unwrapped the beads around hi wrist as if he already knew the answer.

Even as Ryoga watched, Kirara jumped down and transformed before taking to the skies with the slayer in tow… and a giant wave of demons crested the hill and crashed down toward the village.

"Naraku." Inuyasha bite out, and drew Tessaiga.

"Inuyasha, the village!" Kagome glanced between the scattering of buildings behind them and the demons in front, biting her lip worryingly.

"It'll be fine." Inuyasha responded curtly. "We'll keep up here and away from it."

His gold gaze turned momentarily to Ryoga. "You. Don't die." Before refocusing on the battle ahead.

That's when they all noticed her.

On the feather, where the wind witch usually sat in front she had taken the back this time to make room for the red-headed martial artist.

Ryoga watched as Ranma drew closer. She was covered in bruises, crouching without a sound, obediently next to Naraku.

What did he do to her? The Ranma Ryoga knew never could have done that… not with such dead eyes…

"Inuyasha, he's using jewel shards on her!" Kagome informed them as Sango let her boomerang fly from up above, taking out demons but missing their main target completely. Naraku had made sure to stand close enough that they couldn't hit him without risking Ranma.

"Jewel _shards_?" Inuyasha shouted down incredulously, he and Miroku had jumped into the fight and where taking down demons back to back, both in the air and on the ground. Ryoga was still standing shell-shocked as the battle went on, until the demons noticed him and he was forced into the battle. Punching demons away as fast as he could and taking hits that would fell a normal human anyway.

Kagome let loose a glowing pink arrow straight into the mob of demons. "There are five, one in each arm and leg, and one in her neck."

"Damn, she must have _fought_." Inuyasha sounded awed as he cut another demon in half and glanced back at the red-head. "Shit!"

Naraku had finally revealed his purpose for capturing Ranma. Inuyasha barely got his sword out of the way and caught her fist before it could hit him.

Ranma didn't react other than to wrench her fist out of his larger hand and shoot toward her next target… Kagome. Inuyasha shot after her, but there were demons in the way and others coming up behind…

"Kagome!" Both humans on the ground looked up from where they stood. Ryoga watched as Ranma pulled her fist back emotionlessly, aiming for the defenseless miko, and acted on instinct. Putting himself between fighting was easy. Catching Ranma was another story.

Ryoga had forgotten just how _fast _Ranma had used to be when he fought in his girl form. So, when he put himself in the way of her punch and tried to catch it… he ended up taking the punch instead. But he didn't go flying away, and Ranma stayed on him.

Ryoga couldn't bring himself to hit back, but Ranma pounded him ruthlessly. He didn't even know whether it was Naraku making her do it or not. He deserved it after all. But, the dark hanyou's control still needed to be broken.

So, Ryoga dodged her hits if he could and tried to reach her.

"Ranma!" No reaction, even as he called and called. Always no reaction. "This isn't you! Don't let that bastard take control!"

She lifted her leg to kick him and Ryoga blocked it. They were right up against the well now.

"Break free Ranma!"

Then he saw it, even as Ranma ripped her leg away, jumped back and began gathering energy in her hands, she was fighting it.

"Ry… Ryo… ga… run… get… away… idiot…" The ball in her hands was getting larger by the second, but Ryoga didn't run.

"It's my fault your caught like this, I deserve it."

"Stupid, you… love her… Akane… right?" Ranma seemed to be breaking through the control bit by bit, but the power still wobbled and grew, aimed in his direction. "What… do I… matter?"

Her words tore through Ryoga. Is that what she thought?

"You're the stupid one! You're the ONLY person who matters!" Ranma's eyes widened with surprise and, just as she realized that he was everything to her, the energy in her hands broke free, straight toward him.

"RYOGA!" Whatever control Naraku had snapped and Ranma sprinted after the energy she'd made, her limbs seemed to move three times as slow as the ki ball hit Ryoga straight in the chest and expanded outward, ripping through clothing and skin alike. She watched his eyes widen and his teeth clench in pain, and felt her heart rip.

But, Ryoga didn't fall. Her stood and caught her when she reached him. Ranma felt his arms wrap around her and couldn't hold it in, she sobbed.

"See I can take anything." His voice was rough, but there, full of the confidence she hadn't gotten to hear much lately. Ranma hugged him back and cried into his chest, because he was there and not dead. She'd killed him, but he hadn't died and he was there, there, there…

"Stupid, wonderful, idiot." Ranma lightly punched his shoulder and leaned back to grin up at him, but Ryoga was looking up, past her, and his eyes were widening in fear.

**XXXXXXX**

Naraku wasn't stupid.

He knew when he was losing. His lower demons were long gone and that pesky group was focusing all of their strengths on his incarnations and himself. It made him furious to see his plan fail so miserably… so when he saw Ranma break his control and her blast fail to kill the other boy… He snapped.

**XXXXXXX**

Ranma tried to turn to see what had Ryoga freaked, but was pushed back before she could, behind his back.

"What's…" Ranma didn't finish her question as she saw what was happening, what would happen.

Naraku had sent one of his many tentacles straight toward the place where her back had been seconds ago. But, now Ryoga was there and the deadly spike was still coming… and there was nothing she could do about it.

It hit with a thunk and went straight through his abdomen. Ranma watched in horror as the end of it pierced though his back and sprinkled her with dark, warm blood. Ryoga slumped backward as Naraku pulled his appendage out with a squelching noise and made his escape. She heard Inuyasha curse and chase after, but it was muted. The world seemed to slow down.

Ranma tried to catch Ryoga as he fell, but the back of her legs hit the side of the well and he was too heavy… they fell and Ranma barely felt his heart fluttering faintly against hers, as her head hit the side of the well.

The last thing she saw were blue lights.

_**The next chapter may be the last. Just so you know.**_


	13. Finale

_**Hey I realized that the thing I was using to separate parts in the story wasn't working so I went back and put something that does work in every chapter. So that's fixed :].**_

The first thing Ranma noticed when she awoke was that it was nighttime. The second thing was that she was lying sprawled out in the middle of an alley and there was a cold, dead weight on top of her. Then it all came rushing back and she stopped noticing everything else.

"Ryoga!" As gently and quickly as she could, Ranma lifted Ryoga up off her and set him back onto the ground. She felt the blood drain from her face and the cold grip of dread in her chest as she took in how pale and lifeless he looked. The world seemed to slow down as she reached for his wrist and felt for a pulse.

The little flutter Ranma felt against her finger was all she needed, she could still save him. The red-head readjusted her grip on his wrist and used it to pull him up onto her back, making sure that he wouldn't fall off and eliciting a groan of pain from his unconscious form, before running out into the street and stopping dead.

Ranma looked around as a cold sense of panic settled in, but tried to push it down, she couldn't recognize any of the buildings surrounding her and Ryoga still needed help, _fast. _But it wouldn't do him any good if she melted down, besides, no one could ever say that Ranma wasn't strong.

'_**Go right.'**_ Just as suddenly as the first time, the voice she'd heard the first time she'd ever spared and just before the first-ever memory headache gave her direction. Ranma followed it.

They met no one throughout the whole run and Ranma was glad of it. She was sprinting faster than she could ever remember going before and if anyone had gotten in the way… she wouldn't stop.

The voice's directions led her deeper into the city's heart, until she began to recognize places from her disjointed memory, an old run-down school building, a ramen shop, a place called Ucchan's… but she still didn't stop until the last direction rang through her head.

'_**Stop.'**_ The red-head didn't pause to wonder why this place was different or to read the sign hanging next to the wooden doors, but pushed straight through them to the main building.

"Oi! Help! Anybody in there!" Ranma shouted and cursed as she realized her running had reopened Ryoga's wounds. She glared at the screen door with panicky impatience and contemplated tearing it down, listening as the muttering of the owner grew closer, then started when it opened and revealed the one face from her memories she still didn't have a name for.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Ranma Soatome couldn't help grumbling when someone started shouting their heads off outside his house at six o'clock in the morning, rousing him from a good dream, even though it'd been pretty much regular throughout his whole life.

The thirty-four year-old martial artist rose out of bed without a sound, detangling himself from the grasp of his wife and trying not to wake her at the same time, stretching and yawning as he did so. He flipped his pigtail back over his bare shoulder and scratched his head with one hand, before spotting a discarded tank-top of his on the floor and scooping it up with the other.

He stepped out of the master bedroom and crept passed the other rooms in the hall, pulling the shirt on as he went, and took the stairs in one leap. As the black-haired man entered his kitchen he prepared himself for another challenger come to battle with the 'Undefeated Master Soatome'. He really should find the person making up all these names for him and tell them ta make it less cheesy.

Ranma continued grumbling about such random annoyances as he reached for the door and pulled it open with a snap, then stopped dead.

Ranma knew he'd gotten rid of his curse about eighteen years, even remembered it with perfect clarity since it was the day before he finally asked the women upstairs to go with him on their first official date. So, there was no way that he could be seeing his girl-form's sixteen year old face staring up at him with a look of shock that he was sure mirrored his own.

She was the one to recover first and he watched as her face hardened into the look of determination he always got before a martial arts match.

"Look, I dunno who you are or why I know your face, but Ryoga needs help and you're givin' it whether ya wanna or not." She growled loudly and proceeded to push past him into his own house. Ranma followed silently, turning on the lights absentmindedly as he went, still not quite believing this, because he was now seeing another face that he hadn't laid eyes on in eighteen years.

Ryoga had been his rival. He'd gotten lost a lot, but they'd always met to fight at least once a month. Until the same day Ranma had gotten rid of his curse forever.

He'd heard the story from Akane when he'd woken up, that Ryoga had disappeared into the smoke, but he'd always expected the lost boy to find his way back again. A hope that dwindled as the years went by and he got married and moved on.

But, here his old enemy was, being carried on the back of a sprout of a girl and looking half-dead, the new blood mixing with old on his tattered shirt.

The female Ranma strode purposefully into the living area and paused to take in the complete renovation compared to her memory of the Tendo home. _**(A/N Female Ranma is Ranma-chan from now on)**_

The T.V. set had been changed to a wider screen than before, but it still sat in the same corner in front of the table. A couch had been added to one wall and several pictures had been hung around the room. The screens across the room from her were open slightly to let the cool summer air into the house.

It was the table that Ranma-chan headed toward to set down Ryoga, ignoring the actions of the other-her behind them, bending down onto her knees and slowly easing him down onto the flat surface, then putting his arms up so that they lay beside him.

The red-head couldn't help but wince as she viewed the open wound bleeding out onto the clean table. She fought to push down the tears trying to well up and once again hardened her heart. There'd be time enough for that once Ryoga was okay.

Ranma-chan looked up again when the sounds of the male Ranma entered the room once again and she stepped back when he held up a first-aid kit by way of explanation.

Ranma seemed to know exactly what to do. He carefully peeled the shirt off of the unconscious boy and set the cleaning the wound and the skin around it with alcohol and extra bandages.

"Second door on the right upstairs, wake my wife, she's in there. Tell her to call Tofu; she'll know what you mean. Sorry, we'll talk more about this later." Ranma-chan looked up at his business-like tone and took in the directions without question. She could remember the name he gave her, Tofu was a doctor.

When he was done talking and had turned his full attention back to Ryoga, Ranma-chan left the room to do as he said.

The hall was dark and silent and she couldn't help adjusting her steps so that they didn't make a sound. Who know who may be behind the other doors? When she reached the room he'd described she paused for a second with her hand on the knob. Ranma had forgot to mention exactly _who _he'd married and she remembered some crazy fiancée's from back in his/her past.

But, she didn't pause long. A dark, lightly furnished room containing a king-sized bed, made so that it was low to the ground like a futon, but still raised off of the floor and several other bits over furniture met her gaze. She could see one figure asleep under the navy covers of the bed and made her way over to stand on the side opposite.

How was the best way to wake another person's wife? Ranma-chan settled for shaking the woman's shoulder lightly with one hand while calling.

"Hay, c'mon wake up-urgh!" Seemingly, still in her sleep the dark-haired women casually slapped Ranma-chan with one hand, knocking her straight off the bed, before sitting up and using the same hand to cover her mouth while she yawned. Then she seemed to notice what she'd done and scooted to look over the side where Ranma-chan lay, apologizing as she went.

"Ah! I'm sorry, but you should really know by now not to wake me in the middle of the n- R-Ranma?" Both girls took each other in for the first time, Ranma-chan from her place upside-down on the wooden floor and Akane from her half-crouching position next to the bed.

"Yes and no. Your husband's down stairs patching up Ryoga and I don't really know who I am. You need to call Tofu." As Ranma-chan explained this she rolled over and got into a sitting position, rubbing her cheek where a bright red hand-print was just started to show.

Akane's mouth just opened and closed, making a good impression of a fish, as Ranma-chan got more and more impatient.

"If you don't hurry, he might die. I don't know for sure but he's getting a pretty good start on it downstairs." Ranma-chan didn't raise her voice, but the flash of panic in her eyes did a good job of getting through to the older version of the girl she remembered sitting on the bed. Akane shook her head once and adopted a brisk attitude as she rose and quickly began getting dressed.

Ranma-chan took the chance to see how the dark-haired girl had changed over the years. Her hair was still in the short style it'd been in before, but it looked more natural, lived-in. Or that may have been because it was still tufted up from sleep.

But, instead of dressing in one of her usual dresses, Akane pulled on a pair of worn jeans under her night-dress and then pulled out a light yellow long-sleeve shirt. Ranma-chan went red and turned before she could change into _that _in front of her, but Akane didn't even pause.

'_Wow, she's changed __**a lot **__from what I remember.' _ Some part of Ranma-chan's mind commented. She got another surprise when Akane touched her shoulder and smiled gently,

"Well do all we can for Ryoga, don't worry too much." before heading out the door with a backward beckoning. Ranma-chan followed quickly.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Akane headed into the kitchen to call the doctor and Ranma-chan split with her to see how Ryoga was doing.

Ranma was just tying the bandage into place as she walked in, but already little dots of red were beginning to appear over the top of it. Ranma-chan fell to the floor next to him and gripped his hand to her.

"There ain't much more I can do. It needs ta be stitched up an' we ain't got the stuff ta do it. But Ryoga's tough, he's proved that before." Even so, there was a serious, worried look in his eyes that made Ranma-chan tighten her grip on Ryoga.

"I got them, Doctor Tofu and Kasumi will be here soon." Akane entered and paused to watch Ranma-chan nod once without taking her eyes off of the unconscious lost boy. Ranma crossed the room to stand in the doorway with her and the two conversed in low whispers that Ranma-chan couldn't make out, before coming to sit side-by-side across the table from her.

"We won't ask you now, but when we're sure that Ryoga will be alright, we need you to tell us what happened eighteen years ago and why your even here." Akane explained and Ranma-chan nodded once again. All was silent, until Ranma-chan spoke up. She'd never been comfortable with silence.

"I'm glad ya married her." She looked from Ranma to Akane and gave them a small, weak smile. "I always liked her best."

"So, ya remember all that happened before, then?"

Akane sighed, her husband had already forgotten their decision not to question her until later, but thankfully the doctor arrived before he could totally begin firing out questions.

"Akane-chan, what's happened?" A masculine voice accompanied with the sounds of two sets of footsteps entering the house reached them, just before two figures entered the living room.

Tofu looked about the same as Ranma-chan remembered him, same black doctor's wear, only older. As did Kasumi, the only difference was that they were both in the same room and the former was still sane enough to lightly push Ranma-chan out of the way and begin cutting away the rough bandages, now completely soaked through with blood, firing orders as he went.

"Kasumi, did we bring the things needed for stitching? And morphine?" Her only answer was to hand said items to him and Tofu got straight to work.

Ranma-chan got backed into a corner with all the commotion as everyone was ordered to help in some way besides her. She didn't know what to do, until movement at the doorway caught her eye.

Curiosity taking over, Ranma-chan crept toward the movement and turned a corner… only to have to step back as another figure nearly smacked into her. Said figure also jumped back and the two looked each other up and down, in fighting positions.

Ranma-chan looked at the teenage girl in front of her with an odd feeling. This was obviously a child of Ranma and Akane.

She looked to be about fourteen or fifteen and her hair was the same color as her mother's, tied back into a braid that stretched down past mid-back length over her pajamas. Her eyes were a darker blue than Ranma-chan's own, but they still stared back with a strong sense of curiosity that could have matched her father's.

"Who're you?" The girl relaxed her position when Ranma-chan did and stared at her openly.

"Ranma. Who're _you_?" The girl's eye's narrowed fractionally at her answer.

"Ranko. Ranma's my father's name." She sounded suspicious and Ranma-chan would have grinned under any other circumstance at the choice of name for this girl.

"Yeah, I know it is." Ranma-chan leaned against the wall and sighed shakily. Everything that had happened was starting to catch up to her and it landed heavy on her shoulders.

That's when she remembered another thing.

Ranko watched in surprise and worry as the older girl reached up and pulled a shard or something out of her neck, piercing it in the process, before doing the same with each arm and leg, hissing in pain every time.

"Why'd you do that?" Ranko lurched forward and landed next to Ranma-chan as the red-head slid down the wall to a sitting position. Ranma-chan gripped one of her hands with the other, trying to lessen the sting the small cut on her wrist caused and closed her eyes. Only to open them again as her grip was loosened and one of her hands was taken into a cool, gentle grasp.

Ranma-chan watched as Ranko examined the cut she'd made, her forehead creased in concentration.

"I had to get these out." The younger girl looked up to view the five bloody shards in Ranma-chan's hand, and then shook her head. Keeping the older girl's hand gripped in her own, she rose to her feet, pulling the red-head up with her.

"C'mon, we'll get you fixed up. And you can explain a bit." She titled her head in the direction of the living room and then pulled Ranma-chan up the stairs after her, stopping at the first door they came to.

The older girl let her do what she wanted and ended up getting sat down on the edge of bathtub, while the younger went through a cabinet set against the wall for bandages.

"So, wha'dya wanna know?" Ranma-chan tried to suppress the yawn that threatened to split her face in two and watched Ranko apply medicine and bandages to the cuts. It seemed that the explaining she had to do would never end.

"Who's gotten hurt? I heard Uncle Tofu's voice." Ranma-chan nodded internally as her suspicions were confirmed, Tofu had_ finally _gotten over himself and proposed to Kasumi at some point.

"My friend." Ranma-chan bit her lip and didn't explain further. Ranko didn't press, either.

"When did you get here? And from where?"

"Came from th' past, about a' half hour ago." Ranma-chan yawned again and let her eyes lower another fraction while Ranko pondered what she'd said. The dark haired girl only looked up again when all of the cuts were bandaged.

"There now, we should go down stairs." Ranko stood and put away the supplies into the cabinet from before, and looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks."

Ranko nodded and smiled back at Ranma-chan's half-grin, then watched as the older girl walked past, before following.

The red-head took the stairs at a sedate pace and slowed even further as they neared the living room door. She paused and fisted her hands at the corner, taking a deep breath and listening. All of the activity from before seemed to have calmed. It was like those inside were holding their breath for something.

Ranma-chan turned the corner just as his voice first rang out.

"A-Akane-san?"

The red-head paused in the door-way and bit her lip while Ranko peered past into the room beyond.

Ranma-chan squeezed her eyes shut and chocked down a sob. She should have figured that Ryoga would always want Akane more. He'd openly admitted to loving her over and over.

He'd said she mattered, but Akane was still everything… The red-head knew she loved him and if helping him get back to his own time to be with Akane was what it took to stay with him… She'd still do it.

"Where's Ranma? Is she hurt?"

Ranma-chan gasped and turned to see Ryoga try to sit up, only to grip his chest in pain, and lurched forward in response. She watched his expression soften in relief as he caught site of her, then as it changed into surprise with her lips met his own.

Everyone in the room gasped in surprise as Ryoga's eyes slid shut and he returned the kiss whole-heartedly. Ranma turned slightly green and fainted at the sight of his girl-form making out with his rival. Akane grabbed him by the pigtail and dragged him along with a knowing smile as she herded the others out.

When they pulled apart, Ranma-chan finally let all her feelings loose and let the tears poor down her face.

"Heh, your sure crying a lot lately." Ryoga smirked as she frowned at him and pulled away.

"I was worried about you, you jerk." The lost boy only chuckled and pulled her back to him.

"Like I've said before, there was never anything to worry about." Ranma-chan huffed but let him hold her. Her tears were gone now and everything would be alright…

"Ranma and Ryoga sittin' in a room, K-I-S-S-"

"Ranko!"

_**There it is. There may be an epilogue to this… (and maybe a sequel, I know it needs one.) REVIEW AND TELL ME IF THIS SHOULD GO FURTHER!**_

_**p.s. About Ranko… I couldn't think of another name ;3**_


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